Friday, December 19, 2014

The Brindle and The Grey

We were doing just fine, really, until Wednesday. I was supposed to take Tyger to the vet to get her UTD on her shots and the very nice young lady behind the counter suggested that we needed to get Tyger spayed. I shouldn’t have done it, but the young lady was very nice and really, why not?

Well, actually, there were a couple of really good reasons not to have it done that day. The first is that Tyger is just getting used to having a home. I do not think she has ever had a real home. I don’t think she has had anyone to ever care for her. She certainly hasn’t had any training. She was pulled out of the shelter at the very last moment because I took her. Other than that and she’s be dead right now. She’s a very young and very untrained pit who had some health problems. I should have waited and let Tyger settle in for another week or so, or even longer.

Damage done.

In this pack there is an understanding that Sam is Sam and that means ignoring his death threats. Sam isn’t capable of hurting anyone or anything. Lilith and Lucas both have been down this road with Sam and they both ignore him for the most part. Sam attacked Tyger and it got ugly. True enough, Tyger was defending herself but she’s a strong willed and still very much a stray. It’s Lord of the Flies time, as Sawyer once said on LOST. On the upside Sam wasn’t injured badly but it started a very distinct uneasiness between the two. That was just starting to ease up a bit when Tyger went under the knife. Tyger was also learning to keep her face away from the business end of Lilith, Warrior Girl. The overnight vet stay resulted in a very stoned Tyger returning to the pack to be mobbed by three very curious dogs and me trying to keep everyone apart who needed to stay apart.

It seemed that Tyger had started leaning into the idea that she had a family then it was snatched away from her. She spent a day in the same place, the vet’s, that she had gone when she left the shelter and dog only knows what she went through before she got there. All we really know is that someone reported a stray and she was picked up. Tyger has had at least one litter of puppies and who knows what happened to them? She’s less than a year old, at best. Homeless, lost, alone, attacked by her kennelmate in the shelter and then taken away to a strange place with an old and grouchy dog, which was her best bet.

Can you see where Tyger might have some issues here?

So back to the basics of keeping everyone apart from Tyger and keeping Tyger apart from everyone else. But Lucas and Tyger get along very well, so I let them have some time together outside today. I didn’t let them play because Tyger has stiches from the spay. She and Lucas did very well so I let Lilith out and Lilith and Tyger hunted a tree limb together. Okay. I kept them all away from Sam.

Back inside I put Tyger into the crate which shocked Lilith. I’ve never seen a dog like being in a crate as much as Lilith does. But that’s Tyger’s space and she was happy to sleep in her own bed. Tyger needs to know there is some sort of location where she is safe and secure. I put the other dogs out of the room so Tyger and I could talk alone for a while. She allowed me to check her wounds, and she relaxed when I held her. Yesterday spooked my little Brindle Girl. She checked out of her home for a day and now that she is back she’s a little wary that it might happen again. Tyger, as we speak, is sleeping near my feet on the bed. Lucas is on one side of her and Sam is on the other side. That took some doing.

I locked Sam out of the bedroom, let Lilith get into the crate, and let Tyger choose a spot on the bed before Lucas got up. Once everyone got settled in I let Sam in. Sam was forced to get up on the bed alone and he had to find a spot near Tyger, who wasn’t very happy that Sam was there, but I was sitting up with my arm around her. Sam didn’t even growl at her. He got on the bed, refused to look at either of us, and went to sleep. Tyger and I sat for a while and I let her decided if she wanted to stay on the bed or get off. Tyger curled up and went back to sleep.

Now I lay be down to write, in my bed, three dogs sleep tight, and if they dream before they wake, I know Sam’s legs with make things shake. And Lucas’s snore will rattle doors, and the dreams of the Tyger, will be to be lost no more, Lillith hopes for a box of her own, and I am glad, my entire pack is home.

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The Non Disclaimer

My writing reflects the things I see, think, and experience, and those things in my past that have led me to be me. It is not always pretty, it is not always funny, and no one has ever made mention of my life as a Disney Movie. If sex, drugs, profanity, or a general irreverence for all things religious somehow offends you, well, there are other blogs which will satisfy your need for self assurance.